Recipes from Africa, Vietnam, the Middle East, South America, Europe, India and more.

Long Synopsis:

You'll find peanut butter in soup, cinnamon in a meat marinade, and pepper in cookies. As anyone who has tried to diet by limiting their palate can tell you, it's variety of flavors that makes eating healthfully easier and more enjoyable. And while you might associate ethnic food's exotic appeal with decadence, you'll find these dishes surprisingly good for you. That's because many cultures incorporate fresh fruits, vegetables, and fish into even the simplest of suppers. And in more populous-and often poorer-nations, meat is usually used as a flavoring while fiber-rich beans and grains steal the spotlight at the center of the plate.
While the flavors of these recipes are complex, most of the recipes are easy. In fact, we've included many one-dish meals so dinner is convenient, not complicated. Plus, we suggest substitutions for harder-to-find ingredients.
Don't make the mistake of thinking ethnic food should be served only to the people in your family who don't drink out of a sippy cup. You'll find plenty of American and ethnic dishes to please the booster-seat bunch in these pages. My 1 1/2-year-old loves the Canadian Apple Pancakes and Baked Garlic and Cheese Grits. It's easy exposing your little ones to another culture-serve Skewered Singapore Chicken and Pineapple or Plantain Chips from Puerto Rico.
When you've got the time and the inclination, make an event of it. Put on some salsa music or even a polka. Have a Red Stripe beer with your Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin or Chianti with your Spaghetti Alia Norma. You may even want to eat your Pad Thai with chopsticks.